Supporting column



July 15, 1958 J. KowALlK SUPPORTING COLUMN Filed March 5, 1956 United States Patent hice 52,843,405; Patented July 15, 1958 SUPPORTING CLUMN Jozef Kowalik, East Chicago, Ind., assigner to Graver Tank & Mfg. Co., Inc., East Chicago, insb, a corporae The invention relates to columns and particularly te eld assembled columns used for supporting elevated structures and the like.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that field construction work is often accomplished under difcult climatic conditions and without having readily available the broad range of tools and equipment which would facilitate erection of these complicated structures. Therefore, in the field construction of elevated structures such as water tanks it is the usual practice to shop fabricate various portions of the structure as completely as possible and thereby facilitate subsequent eld erection. It is well known to those skilled in the art that columns, usually tubular columns, lare used to support the finished elevated structure. These columns are shop formed in sections and then shipped to the erection site for assembly one upon the other in opstanding relation. of the ditiiculties heretofore experienced is to arrange the sections so they may be easily and accurately aligned in a predetermined relationship during erection. After erection, the assembled sections are fixedly secured together in any suitable manner such as for example, by welding. In aligning these sections consideration must be given to several factors, namely, vertical alignment, radial alignment one section to the other, and vertical spacing between the ends of the adjacent sections to accommodate deposit of welding material therein to secure the section one to the other. Additionally, the spaced end sections require a proper back up plate to accommodate this welding.

Accordingly, it is a general object of the invention to provide -a novel structural arrangement which may 'be shop fabricated and will assure proper section alignment during lield erection.

It is a specic object of the invention to provide an arrangement that will accurately align the column sections vertically, align the column sections in proper radial relation to each other about the long axis of the column, and further properly position the column ends to accommodate easy welding or joining together thereof.

It will further be understood that the arrangement herein disclosed prevents the ends of the column section from being deformed during shipment thereof to the erection site. This feature also eliminates one of the dimculties heretofore found in eld erection of structures of this type.

These and other objects of the invention will become apparent in the course of the following description and from an examination of the concerned drawings.

Figure l is an elevational view of a typical column section,

Figure 2 is a sectional view of the column taken along line 2-2 of Figure 1,

Figure 3 is a detailed view of a typical column section after shop fabrication,

Figure 4 is a top plan view of the structure shown in Figure 3, `and Figure 5 is a bottom plan View of the structure shown in Figure 3.

Describing the invention in detail and directing attention to the drawings, a tubular supporting column 10 may be provided at its upper end with saddle arrangement 12, said saddle arrangement being formed and ar ranged to be welded to the side of a supported storage tank 14. The column 10 may be made up of a plurality of erected sections 16 and 1S, it being understood that the lower-most section of the column is conventionally secured to a supporting foundation as will be familiar to those skilled in the art.

Directing attention to Figure 2, it will be seen that the upper section 16 is provided at one end thereof with an arcuate plate 20, said tubular section 20 being continuously secured to the inner periphery 22 of the section 16 and arranged to extend outwardly beyond the end thereof. The outer or lower end of the plate 20 is dened by a hat plate 24, said flat plate 24 being in inclined or acute angular relation to the long axis of the column 10.

The adjacent end of the section 18 may be provided with a member indicated generally at 28. It will be seen that in its preferred form the member 28 may'comprise a transverse support bar 30 which is secured at opposite ends to the inner periphery of the section 18. A further support bar 32 may be added, if desired. A flat plate 34 is secured to the upper edge of the support ibar 3l), and, because of the inclined relation of the support bar 28 the upper surface of the plate 34 is in inclined plane or acute angular relationship with the long axis of the column 10.

As is best seen in Figure 2, it will be noted that the angular relation of the plates 24 and 354 is preferably identical whereby upon assembly of the column sections 16 and 18 the surface of the plates 24 and 314 will complemently engage each other, It will be appreciated that the inclined plane engagement between the Hat plates 24 and 34 will positively prevent any radial or twisting misalignment between the sections 16 and 18. It will further be understood that the member 28 is so positioned in the column section 18 so that upon assembly with the section 16 a slight gap 38 will be present intermediate the ends of the adjoining sections. The length of this gap is accurately predetermined to provide the correct opening for depositing welding material to secure the column sections together. Further, the tubular section 2,0 will seal the rear opening of the gap 33 and act as a back up plate to facilitate this welding.

It will be noted that the column sections: are completely fabricated in the shop and may additionally include lugs 40 adjacent opposite ends thereof which accommodate temporary erection bolts 42 which facilitate construction of the column. However, Abecause of the telescoping relation of the male and female members it will be appreciated that considerable erection stability is offered the column during construction thus providing a safety feature even without using the erection bolts. Further, the rigid internal support of the opposite ends of the column sections prevents said ends from being deformed due to handling during shipment to the erection site. This feature saves much time and diiculty for the erection crew.

It will Ibe understood that the embodiment here shown is by way of illustration and not limitation land may be subject to various modifications without departing from the spirit thereof or the scope of the appended claim.

What is claimed is:

In a tubular column used to support an elevated tank, said column being formed of permanently joined sections arranged in end to end relationship, the combination of means on the adjacent ends of each section to facilitate erection of the column, said means on one section comprising a tubular section continuously secured to the inner periphery of one section and extending outwardly beyond the end thereof a determined distance, a flat plate secured to and substantially yco-extensive with the outermost edge l 3 of said tubular section, said flat plate being in determined acute angular relationship to the axis of said column, said means on the other section comprising another ilat plate secured to the inner periphery of the other adjacent section and spaced from ther end thereof a determined distance related to said first mentioned distance, said other lat plate being in determined acute angular relationship to the aXis of the column and equal to said iirst mentioned acute angular relation, whereby upon assembling the first mentioned sections to form the lcolumn the at plates may complemently engage each other to arrange the sections in a predetermined manner angularly about their now common axes, said related determined distances being such that upon assembly of the adjacent ends of the sections, said ends are slightly spaced from each other with said tubular section defining the radially inner limit of said space thereby accommodating appropriate weld joining o'f said rst mentioned sections.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNlTED STATES PATENTS 

